SP High School class watches “Hometown Stories”

On September 25, Sauk Prairie High School history teacher, Dan Halling, shared Wisconsin Public Televisions’s film “Wisconsin Hometown Stories Sauk Prairie” to his Wisconsin History class at the River Arts Center. WPTV staff members Mia Forslund, Megan Monday and David Hestad were present also. Forslund is WPTV’s Education Specialist and worked with Halling on the teacher committee that advised WPTV and worked to create materials for the classroom. The film has sections and begins with the history of the Sauk native Americans and their settlement of what was later to become Sauk City and Prairie du Sac, shared information on Jonathan Carver, the 1857 treaty with the US federal government that displaced the Ho-Chunk from their land land, the story of Agoston Haraszthy and his vineyards that are now Wollersheim Winery and forward. Other sections are titled “Hydromania”, about the building of the Prairie du Sac Dam, “Glass Plates” about the preservation of glass plates that allows us to see the people and the history of the times, “A Writer of Place” about August Derleth’s career as a writer, “Arsenal of Democracy” about WWII and Badger Ordnace Work, the displacement of the farmers from their land and the effect t the plant had on the area, and “A New Chapter”. about what is taking place at Badger and in the area now. Some of the local historians and people interviewed in the film are Michael Groc, Paul Wolter, Peter Schrake, Phil Hasheider, Shirley Bass Hasheider, Verlyn Mueller, Julie Coquard, and Jody Kapp Berndt. After the film, Halling asked the students, “What did you see that was familiar?” One student said, “The dam,” and another said , “I live in the park right across from Badger!”. There were several questions for David Hestad, WPTV’s History Programming Producer, regarding how the content was selected and what he enjoyed about making the film. Hestad explained that they “wanted to focus on one place at one time.” WPTV has made Hometown Stories for cities such as Janesville, LaCrosse, Wausau, Green Bay, and Port Washington as well as for Door and Juneau counties. Sauk Prairie is their first smaller town. Wisconsin Hometown Stories Sauk Prairie premiers Tuesday, October 29 at 7 pm on Wisconsin Public Television.